This invention relates to a facsimile apparatus and, more particularly, to a facsimile apparatus for a process of adding image data to another image data which has been encoded in accordance with the MMR (Modified Modified Read) scheme.
In a conventional facsimile apparatus having an image memory, when image data based on sender's time, date, telephone number, and other such information (hereinafter "transmission terminal identification" will be abbreviated as "TTI") is added to the head of image data (hereinafter, this type of data will be referred to as "additional image data") which has been MMR-coded from a transmission original and stored into the memory, the last main-scanning line is not always of all white (=blank) data pixels and the data amount is not always an exact multiple of a system bus width. For this reason, the conventional apparatus decodes the stored image data and adds the additional image data, further, it encodes the data again and transmits the coded data. Alternatively, the apparatus converts the data to which the additional data is added into a byte-pack (a status where image pixel data is used to fill in all the bits of a one byte data area) before it transmits the data.
In a case where additional image data is from an image original, similar procedures are required.
Thus, the above conventional apparatus must decode image data which has already been MMR-coded and stored in the image memory for adding additional image data and then encode the data again. In addition to such roundabout processings, the apparatus should re-execute byte-packing of image data which has already been byte-packed after MMR-coding and stored in the memory, in consideration of the data length of additional image data to be added to the head of the stored image data.
Such encoding of the MMR-coded-and-decoded data and re-execution of byte-packing requires quite a long period, which prevents high-speed transmission.